Last week Greg Takacs, a pretty good local runner, posted the following on a running forum, and I found the subject so interesting that I copied it and posted it elsewhere for others to comment. Greg wrote:

"The problem with pacers is that they are usually pretty fast runners running a minute per mile slower than their marathon pace and since they don't run on effort they look at pace and sometimes hurt people on the hills by running too fast. 1-2 miles at half marathon effort is all it takes for the followers to drop like flies."

Absolutely true. My thinking is that a perfect pacer should take runners out for two miles or so at a pace slightly slower than even-paced miles and then allow them to ease into the desired pace, and as Greg points out, back off a bit on the hills. This would replicate using a HR monitor to some small extent and help the runners manage their overall pace more effectively. I like the idea of the pacer going out easy at first, because most runners don't warm up properly at the start of a half or full marathon, so the early miles help the runner ease into a faster pace.

I heard some great ideas from other contributors. Ros Dalrymple had a lot of praise for the two who paced the 1:40 group at the DRC Half. "They worked together to plan the pace perfectly for the runners. Coming down the huge hill toward the spillway, one said to the other, 'We're about 6 seconds fast here, but we'll ease off coming up the hill to give them a breather.' They were averaging the overall pace, based on effort."

Ros was referring to Alex Delacruz and Adriano Vieira, who did an outstanding job.

Nick Polito has paced many races, and said, "Often the race organization will dictate how they want the pacing to go, and it's almost always even-paced miles. The big issue is that pacers sometimes have difficulty doing it." Ros agreed, saying "Our pacer at Cowtown 2 years ago dropped out at 17 miles, said he was having a bad day."

Manuel Rodriguez added, "I like the idea of having two pacers per group. As anyone who's run a few distance races knows, anything can happen out there. So if one pacer gets sick or needs a restroom break, the group still has pacer."

I will simply add here that in addition to being technically skilled at pacing, the pacer should also have good "people skills" to share with the runners what the pace plan will be, and offer encouragement and support during the event.

Troy Pruett summed up, "Now if only the pacers could get the runners to leave their watches at home."

What's your wish list for the perfect pacer? What do you want the pacer to do for you? Post your comments. I'd like to hear.

Plano Pacer's to Host 3rd Annual Nickel-K

The non-profit "Nickel From Nicole" hopes its message of safe driving to teens will reach many during the 3rd annual Nickel-K, hosted by the Plano Pacers on Dec 28th. The number one cause of teenage fatalities is car accidents. The non-profit was born out of tragedy, inspired by a touching letter Nicole LeGrow's family received in the wake of her death. Her friend Lance wrote to the LeGrow family that he nicknamed Nicole "Nickel", and that he placed a "Nickel" on the dashboard of his car as a constant reminder for himself to drive safely. Paying his message forward, "Nickel Cards" containing a nickel and a safe driving message are created and distributed worldwide. Visit www.NickelFromNicole.com and register here.

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